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Ludhyanwi, Rashid Ahmad - d. 1422

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Background

He is Rashid Ahmad b. Ml. Muhammad Salim b. Ml. Muhammad Azim Ludhyanwi. He was born into a family that had a rich history of services to Islam and known for their piety and Islamic scholarship in Ludhyana. His father, Ml. Muhammad Salim, was an adherent of Hakim al-Ummat Tahnwi and named his son in honour of the venerable shaykh, Mufti Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. He would take him to the gatherings of the pious such as that of Hakim al-Ummat Tahnwi. Mufti Rashid Ahmad Ludhyanwi was one of four brothers all of whom were students of Islam and he himself had three sons and two daughters who followed suit.

He was born 3 Safar 1341 in the village of Cot Ashraf, Multan. He died on 1422 (2002), aged 81 years, in Karachi, Sindh. He is called Ludhyanwi in reference to his ancestral home of Ludhyana, which his father left prior to his birth. He spent his early years in Multan but in 1357 AH he moved along with his family to Khayrpur, Sindh. He spent much of his time between 1353 and 1361 away from home in boarding; the last two years being in Deoband. Following his graduation, he would spend seven years in Haydrabad, Sindh and further six in Tehri. In 1376 AH, he relocated to Karachi, Sindh and remained there until the end. Throughout his life, he travelled internationally all over the world including countries such as Britain, America, and Canada amongst many others.

Character

He was a principled man and gave credence to clarity over formality which some misconstrued as strictness. He believed all matters should be transparent especially so if it related to the rights of others. One can imagine what his attitude would be to the rights of Allah almighty. He was diligent in his approach and did not permit any convolution in Islam. This resulted in his unwavering stance against acts of bid’ah (innovations) and disobedience.

Education

He started learning Quran at the age of five at home. His father, in 1353 AH sent him to acquire din in Multan where his other brothers were studying. In that year, all four brothers went to Jahangir Abad to study from Ml. Sultan Mahmud and Ml. Muhammad Jamil. In 1357 AH transferred his education to Sindh where he had the company of Ml. Ubaid Allah Sindhi although he did not formally study under him. Thereafter, in 1359, he moved to Dargah under the tutelage of his brother Ml. Muhammad Khalil for a short time before moving to boarding in Gujrat, Punjab. In 1360 AH, he enrolled in Darul Uloom Deoband to complete his final two years. There, he studied Bukhari and Tirmidhi from Shaykh al-Islam Hussayn Ahmad Madani and Ml. Muhammad Izaz Ali Amrohi as well as Shama’il Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud from the latter. He studied Muslim, Nasa’i, Mu’attah Imam Malik, Ibn Majah, Tahawi and Mu’attah Imam Muhammad from Ml. Muhammad Ibrahim Bilyawi, Ml. Muhammad Idris Kandhalwi, Ml. Abdul Haq Nafi’, Mft. Riyadh al-Din, Mft. Muhammad Shafi Usmani and Ml Zahur Ahmad respectively; all men of great stature, knowledge and piety, may Allah have mercy upon them all. He also studied Fawa’id Makkiyah and al-Jazri under Qari Aziz al-Rahman and Khulasat al-Bayan from Qari Hifz al-Rahman.

In 1362 AH, he took up a teaching position at Madinat al-Ulum in Haydrabad, Sindh and within two years, he was appointed head of education and shaykh al-hadith, teaching Bukhari amongst other books. In 1366 AH, he was also given charge of the Dar al-Ifta. After seven years of service at Madinat al-Ulum, in 1370 AH, he transferred to Dar al-Huda in Tehri, Uttarkhand assuming the same position; he would teach eight lessons including Bukhari and oversee the Dar al-Ifta. In shawwal, 1376 , at the behest of his teacher Mufti Shafi Usmani he was appointed Shaykh al-Hadith in Darul Uloom Karachi. He taught Bukhari and given responsibility of the curriculum but he would later give up this administration role to focus solely on teaching. He did not head the Dar al-Ifta at Karachi, however, he would deal with the important and difficult questions. In 1381, he was made responsible for the newly formed fiqh department to train able graduates in ifta. In 1383, he left Darul Uloom Karachi and established ‘Darul Ifta wa Irshad’, an institution solely dedicated to training graduates in ifta.

Selected works

Ahsan al-Fatawa
This is a compendium of all his fatawa and scholarly articles. It was published in eight volumes during his lifetime with the ninth volume being released posthumously. It is an authoritative work and has gained wide acceptance amongst the scholarly community.

Khutbat al-Rashid
This is a collection of 58 of his speeches, published in 7 volumes. Bar a few, a large majority of the speeches were delivered after Asr in the Jami' Masjid of Dar al-Ifta wa al-Irshad, Nazim Abad, Karachi. Most of the speeches included in this work were transcribed and published separately after a review and addendum by Mufti Rashid Ahmad Ludhyanwi himself. A few (such as those in volume 3) were transcribed and published posthumously.